Four Letter Lie
by OfMiceAndBears
Summary: Andy didn't really know how to live with other people since she had been on her own for so long. She had her nieces, sure, but there were only so many conversations you could have with a five and seven year-old in the middle of an apocalypse. She soon jumps at a chance to be part of a group, wanting a safe place to raise her girls. Too bad 'Safe' is a four letter word these days.
1. (I) Three Questions

**Three Questions**

Shuffling and snarling woke Andy with a violent start, her hand immediately flying to the gun laying on her stomach as she shot up into a sitting position to lean over the branch of the tree she was currently trying to sleep in, carefully looking down to see the cause of the noise, as if it weren't already obvious. A Dud had wandered just under the tree, no more than five feet or so below her, shuffling and snarling in the hungry way they always did. Andy shot her gaze up into the other branches of the tree, seeing Nina and Izzy sleeping in a sitting position in the top most branches. Brego shifted under her arm and Andy could feel his chest rumble in a threatening growl. She quickly quieted him by grasping his scruff, watching as the Dud slowly wandered off into the forest and out of sight. When Brego had relaxed, Andy glanced up at her still sleeping girls, thankful they hadn't fallen from the tree while they slept.

Andy woke them up when the sun had risen high enough in the sky to burn away the last wisps of morning fog and gently lowered them to the ground, making sure their jackets were on tightly and their hands weren't obstructed by the sleeves before setting off in search of water. A short recurve bow was in Andy's hands, one arrow already knocked and aimed for any movement while they headed to the creek just a few paces away, a small bundle of arrows held in her hand against the body of the bow, ready to be used at a moments notice if needed. Nina and Izzy were talking away, their voices softer and quieter than Andy would have ever thought was possible before shit hit the fan almost a year ago.

Andy washed their faces and brushed their hair quickly, taking the time to braid their long hair out of their faces while they munched on old granola bars and the remnants of the rabbit Andy had caught a few days prior. When they were fed and no longer complaining about being hungry, Andy led them into the forest, following her compass in a pretty general South-East direction. They stumbled upon a small town around noon, so Andy stuck them in another tree while she went in and foraged for supplies, hoping to also find a sign or something with the name so she could look at her map and gain her bearings. Brego walked faithfully by her side, his mouth hanging open and his ears pricked forward attentively. Andy found a few cans of tuna and a bag of stale bread in what used to be someone's home, and she looked around in some of the upper bedrooms and found a box of bandages, rubbing alcohol and a long hunting knife with a serrated edge that she stuffed into her bag.

She found the name of the small Georgia town displayed proudly on the side of an abandoned police cruiser, WILLIAMSON POLICE DEPARTMENT written in large white letters across the side. Andy tried to find a working car to use to help them on their way, but came up empty handed when the large majority of them were either wrecked, tossed on their sides or locked. Not wanting to attract the attention of a swarm of Duds that might be lurking near-by, she resisted the urge to break open a window and headed back to the tree she left her nieces in, pulling them down to eat some very sad looking tuna sandwiches ('Sadwiches' her brother used to call them), tossing Brego some of the bread she found and his own can of tuna.

"We veered off course a little ways trying to avoid that last swarm we came across a few towns back." Andy stated, knowing that Nina and Izzy wouldn't really understand what she was talking about. They were still a long way off from the coast, and with the kids in tow and no car, Andy didn't really know how long it would take them to reach their destination.

"I think our best option would be to find a car or something; it would keep us protected and off our feet for a short while." She muttered, fingering the worn map and trying to find the most direct route that wouldn't take them into any large cities. Her map had been marked all over in red sharpie, crossing out places they'd been and places to avoid so they wouldn't have to cross through any large cities or towns and avoid the swarms as much as possible. The road they were currently on would take them all the way down into a town called Zebulon, which didn't look too terribly large and more than likely had a car they could use to get to Brunswick. With her mind made up, Andy gathered her nieces and set off down the road toward Zebulon, hoping to get most of the way there by nightfall.

 **|.|**

One of the great things about Brego was the fact that he could detect and steer Andy and the girls away from swarms of Duds before they were spotted and helped with keeping away from the swarms as often as possible. One of the not so great things about Brego was his insatiable love for chasing down squirrels. About forty-five minutes into their journey, a squirrel had darted across the road and over Brego's toes, causing the dog to give chase and disappear into the forest surrounding each side of the road they had been walking down.

"Brego, you fucker!" Andy hissed, grasping Nina and Izzy's hands as they chased after their canine companion. She could hear Brego thundering through the over growth, but it was getting more and more distant as the seconds went by. Knowing that she would never catch up to Brego with two kids, she found a large tree that had fallen over, its interior rotted out and mostly hollow; a great hiding spot for two little girls for the moment. Andy steered them toward the tree and tucked them away inside, pushing their bags inside with them.

"I have to go find Brego. You two stay here and don't move. I'll be right back." She stated, taking the time to pull some moss covered branches over the opening of the tree and taking off to find Brego, arrow knocked and at the ready. She followed Brego's trail for ten minutes or so before she saw him trotting toward her with the squirrel clamped in his jaws, a very triumphant look on his face. Andy scolded him severely, grasping his scruff and taking the squirrel from him.

"Bad, Brego, bad!" She chided quietly, leading him back to where she had stashed the girls. "Running off like that... I outta get you a fucking leash if you're gonna be naughty." Brego, as if understanding what he did was wrong, hung his head and whined a bit, trying to lick his masters hand in forgiveness.

"Nuh uh, none of that. I'm mad at you."

Andy collected Nina and Izzy from the log they had been hiding in and picked their way into the forest in search of somewhere to rest for the night before they resumed their journey. It was obvious what little walking they did had tired the girls out, as they were complaining about being hungry and tired already. Andy had succeeded in finding a deer blind about a half mile off the road, high enough off the ground that Duds wouldn't be a problem if they came by and large enough to fit all four of them inside almost comfortably.

Andy lifted the girls into the blind and strapped a harness onto Brego and attached that to a length of rope, using it to heft Brego up with them. Andy laid out some blankets and stacked their bags against the far wall so they were put of the way but still within reach if they needed it. Just as they all finished a meager supper, Brego stood, trying to look over the top of the wall of the blind, every singe hair on his back raised and his chest rumbling in an almost feral growl. Andy immediately removed her gun from its holster and peeked out from the edge of the blind as well, seeing a dozen or more Duds making their way slowly toward the blind. Andy swore and turned to her nieces, lifting her finger to her lips to get them to stay quiet. She hoped that the Duds would just pass the blind by, but when they milled around the bottom of the tree for close to fifteen minutes, Andy knew she would have to lead them away from her family. She swore and made sure the silencer on her gun was attached properly, patting herself down to make sure her knife was still strapped to her belt and thigh. She carefully reached into her bag and pulled out a few flares and two extra clips for her gun before pulling her bow across her chest.

"I have to lead them off and get them away from you. You fucking stay here and this tree and be quiet, I _mean it_. Don't come down from here for anything, no matter how long it takes me to get back. You. Stay. Put. Got it?" Nina and Izzy sniffled and nodded their heads, understanding even at their young age how much danger they were in. Andy nodded and kissed their foreheads before grabbing Brego by the scruff and pointing to the little girls before them.

"Brego, protect." At once Brego moved from Andy's side and right in front of Nina and Izzy, his body blocking them from the openings of the blind.

Andy quietly moved to sit at the edge of the blind, carefully igniting a flare and tossing it about twenty feet of the swarm that had congregated at the bottom of the tree. It took them a few moments, but they eventually followed after the flare, hissing and snarling hungrily. Andy carefully dropped from the blind and carefully made it a few paces away before gaining their attention by whistling and clapping.

"C'mon you fuckers, over here!" The swarm turned their heads at the same time and them began shambling toward Andy, Their arms outstretched to try and grab her. She then sprinted into the forest, heading in the opposite direction of the way they would be going tomorrow, her gun drawn and head on a swivel, making sure they wouldn't suddenly catch up to her and so she wouldn't trip over a log and get royally screwed. She led them off for about two miles, her chest now heaving and a stitch in her side.

When she had finally deemed herself far enough away from the blind, she popped another flare and waited until the last minute to toss it in the path she knew the swarm would take, pelting toward a small stream and vaulting over it to make her way toward some larger trees while they were distracted, trying to put as much distance between her and them as possible. She zig zagged her way back to the blind, stopping every few minutes to listen for signs that the Duds were still after her. Eventually she made it back, two rabbits and a squirrel hooked to her belt to show for the fact she had successfully lead away a small swarm from her family.

She was greeted with hugs and teary eyed kisses by her nieces and wet licks from Brego. Slowly Nina and Izzy fell asleep, leaving just Andy to listen to the surrounding forest and keep watch.

 **|.|**

The next morning, Andy cooked up the rabbits and squirrel she caught for breakfast before leading her charges toward a small creek nearby to restock their water supply. She started another fire and began boiling the water in a small pot, allowing Nina and Izzy to play in the area as long as they were within eyesight of her at all times. She also took this time to sharpen her knives and clean her guns, watching the girls play in the water just a few feet away. Brego had walked a few feet away as well, sniffing around in the under growth. Andy was in the middle of putting her gun back together when she heard it. Or rather, when she realized it was what she _couldn't_ hear that was the problem. Andy snapped her head around, not seeing Nina or Izzy near the water where they had been playing just a few moments prior. Before Andy could call out to them, she heard the click of a gun being cocked right behind her head and felt her blood turn to ice.

"Put your hands where I can see them." Demanded a gruff voice. Andy did as she was told and raised her hands slowly. Her fingers twitched and she had to restrain herself from grabbing her knife or her gun.

"Now, stand up _slowly_ and face me." He said, stepping back a pace or two. Andy did as directed and turned around, glaring hard at the man before her. He was tall and lithe, with startling blue eyes that were cold, obviously not too trusting of the woman before him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, as if she were trespassing. Andy flicked her eyes around behind the man, looking for any signs of her nieces. She didn't know whether to feel scared or relieved that they weren't any where near him.

"Didn't realize getting water was a crime nowadays." She replied evenly, shifting her stance just a bit to try and hide the .45 strapped to her leg and to get closer to her bow. The man raised his gun a little higher, aimed right between her eyes.

"What's your name?" He asked. Just as Andy was going to tell the man to get bent, a shrill scream split the air, coming from a short distance to Andy's right. It felt as if all the wind had left her lungs, but she didn't give herself enough time to think as she stared the man dead in the eyes for a moment before she was scooping up her quiver and bow and sprinting through the trees, deftly jumping over roots and rocks in her haste to make it to her girls.

She saw Izzy's golden blonde hair first before she saw Nina's darker hair, but as she crashed through the clearing she saw another man a few paces away from the two, a large cross bow hanging from his hand. Andy immediately knocked an arrow and drew it, holding the string in a Mongolian draw and planting herself in between the man and the only things she had left in the world. The man was so quick to draw his own weapon she didn't even know if he had enough time to be surprised at her sudden arrival, but all she was worried about was getting her family to safety.

The other man had then come into the clearing as well, aiming his Colt at her head again but before he could even get the hammer drawn back, Brego was standing between him and Andy, his lips pulled back in a feral snarl with every single hair on his back raised. Andy whistled at him once, a short, sharp sound in a command he knew as 'wait'.

"You best back the fuck up." She snarled, taking her own step back to feel Nina and Izzy cling to her pant legs. Her chest was rising and falling heavily, heaving in a mixture of adrenaline and terror that was making her hyper aware of everything going on. The men shared a look before the blue-eyed man dipped his head and took a step backward

His gun was still trained on Andy's head.

"We're leaving." She stated, the tone in her voice holding a dangerous edge that made the hairs on the back of the men's necks stand on edge. She glanced at both men, knowing for a fact they could both kill her in an instant or over power her if they really wanted to, but she also knew that Brego was seventy-five pounds of pure, loyal rage who was currently a string pulled taught and wouldn't need much provocation to maul them to death if it came down to it.

"We're leaving." She said again. Andy stepped back another small pace and the two little girls shuffled along with her. The blue-eyed man glanced at the girls and Andy's stomach did an awful flop, not liking anyone – especially a man she's never met before in her life – staring at her nieces.

"Hold on a minute," He said. "Lower your weapon, let's talk this out." His voice was now soft and placating, as if he were talking to a scared animal. Andy grunted and glared harder at the both of them.

"You lower _your_ weapons and _then_ we can talk." She growled. The blue-eyed man shook his head.

"You lower yours first." He said. Andy scoffed and took another step back.

"I can give you two pretty good reasons as to why I can't." She said. She glanced at Brego as well, adding as if an afterthought; "Three actually." Her heart was hammering in her chest, making her almost light headed with the intensity of the moment. The man with the crossbow grunted and lowered it a bit.

"Daryl, don't." The blue-eyed man said. 'Daryl' jerked his head in the direction of Nina and Izzy, who were still hiding behind Andy's legs.

"She got kids man. C'mon." Daryl then placed his crossbow on the ground and lifted his hands, showing Andy that he meant no harm. The blue-eyed man sucked on his teeth before he too placed his weapon on the ground. Andy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding but didn't release the draw she had on her bow, although she aimed it about an inch to the right of Daryl's head.

"Alright, spill it." She said, heart still hammering in her chest. The blue-eyed man dipped his head again, his hand coming to rest on the large machete attached to his belt.

"What's your name?" He asked. It seemed like such a benign question that it almost made Andy laugh at how absurdly _normal_ it was. Well, it would have been normal before, but now it was just plain weird.

"Andy. That there's Brego." she replied, jerking her head to Brego who was still growling and had practically begun shaking with the strain of not launching himself across the clearing until his master gave him the say-so.

"You gotta camp?" the man with the crossbow asked. Andy didn't know if telling him that she didn't in fact have a camp would be beneficial to her cause or not, but decided that it didn't hurt to tell the truth.

"No. You?"

"How many Walkers you kill?" was his second question, using it to avoid her own. Andy narrowed her eyes and tilted her head a bit, not understanding why he would ask such a thing.

"If you're talking about the Duds, then a fair few. Stopped counting after everything went to shit." she replied, all of the Dud's faces blurring into one lump at the forefront of her mind.

"How many people you kill?"

Andy clenched her jaw, trying to resist the urge to take her eyes off the men before her to look at her nieces – to make sure they were still there. It only took her one more moment to answer.

"Seven." She stated, the number leaving an awful taste in her mouth.

"Why?" the blue-eyed man asked, the word sounding like a gunshot in the cold air. This one was harder for Andy to answer, the pain and loss and anger still too fresh to poke at just yet. Andy looked the man in the eyes and she answered.

"The first two used my family as bait for the Duds. The third was turning and didn't want to become one of them. The other four were trying to hurt my girls. Damn near got away with... with..." Tears welled in Andy's eyes and anger burned hot and heavy in her chest at the thought of what almost happened to Nina and Izzy. "I killed them because they were bad and I protected what needed protecting. Plain and simple."

The blue-eyed man nodded in what Andy assumed was understanding and shared a look with his companion. The pair seemed to have a wordless conversation before Daryl gave the slightest nod of his head. This seemed to be what the blue-eyed man was looking for, as he then held his hand out for Andy to shake.

"My name's Rick, and that's Daryl. We've got a place just down the road. There are others; kids, adults. We've got shelter, walls, and food for you and those girls." Hope ignited itself in the pit of Andy's belly. Should she believe these men when they said there was shelter nearby? That there was actually a place where the kids could sleep at night, without one eye open and away from the cold and the Duds? Andy looked down at Nina and Izzy, who were now looking up at their aunt, hopeful looks lining their dirt smeared faces. Her heart immediately broke in two and she dropped her bow, replacing the arrow into the quiver on her back. She then clicked her tongue at Brego, who dropped his stance almost immediately, although the hair along his spine was still standing on end.

"Lead the way." she said, finally taking Rick's hand and returning the shake.


	2. (II) A Job, A Purpose

**A Job, A Purpose**

Andy spent her first forty-eight hours inside the Prison holed up inside of her new room ( _It's a cell, let's just make that very clear to ourselves._ She thought when Rick had shown her and the girls into C-Block.) reading _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ to Nina and Izzy. The very first twenty-four was spent pacing up and down the small cell while Nina and Izzy slept or played with a set of small wooden horses Andy made out of driftwood, the woman unable to bring herself to sleep after spending so much time on her own taking care of two girls and a dog for the last two years. After almost thirty hours of absolutely zero sleep and wound tighter than a drum, she finally allowed herself to lay down for a quick power nap, only to wake up later groggy and completely unaware of her surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was the fact that Nina, Izzy, and Brego were missing.

Andy shot right out of bed, banging her head harshly on the top bunk before dropping down on her knees to look under the bed. When she didn't find either girl in her cell, she ripped open the door and began looking in every cell in C-Block, startling a girl holding a baby quite a bit before she was able to string enough words together to form a slightly coherent sentence.

"Nina – Izzy – missing – gotta find them..." the girl only looked at Andy blankly, in a sort of deer in the headlights expression. Too much in a hurry to try to explain what she was talking about, she turned and streaked out of C-Block and out a series of hallways and doors to where she remembered the main exit being. The door slammed open so suddenly the _bang_ of metal hitting brick made Andy's ears ring, but she managed to jump the seven steps from the door to the ground and round the railing, ignoring the bite the gravel had on her bare feet. She went to shout, but the names of her nieces died on her lips when she saw what they were doing.

Andy had initially expected Duds to be eating their faces, or the new people of the prison using them as bait to draw a swarm away, but was _not_ expecting the two girls to be weaving together a crown out of wild flowers and grass with three other girls. Brego was laying down in the grass of the fenced in courtyard of the prison with the kids, eyes closed and tongue lolling out in content as the five placed the crowns and wreathes on his head and around his neck. She could see another boy standing at some sort of awning with a short haired woman and a large black man. People were milling about the courtyard, talking or doing some sort of chore while the day was still nice. Andy ignored the question an Asian kid and a girl had been trying to ask her and stumbled toward Nina and Izzy, feeling her throat tighten in pure _joy_ at seeing them be kids again.

The girls looked up just as Andy was passing though the slightly open gate and immediately jumped up, running to her and yelling something about making new friends. Brego was trotting after them, woofing excitedly at seeing his master up and around again. Andy dropped to her knees and glanced at the flower crowns for a moment before pulling both girls into a tight hug, laughing when they both exclaimed that she was hugging them too tightly.

"I'm sorry, babies, I'm sorry. You made new friends, huh? Did they help you make these?" Nina nodded her head excitedly, pushing her wild hair out of her face with a dirty hand, only adding to the ever present food and dirt stains that stayed on her face no matter how much Andy washed it.

"Yeah, we made these. Our friends – I forgot their names but that's okay – helped make necklaces out of grass for Brego. And look! Izzy and I made this one for you because we knew you wanted one." Nina pushed the necklace onto Andy's head and around her neck, having only a tiny bit of trouble getting it passed her mane of eternally messy hair.

"No, Auntie, you have to put it like this, not over your hair like that." Izzy chided, showing her the _proper_ way to wear a necklace made out of crab grass and dandelions (Which so happened to be over the top of your head and under your hair like a tiara, in case you were wondering).

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll fix it right away." she said, pulling her hair out from under the makeshift tiara and letting it rest on her chest like the necklace she thought it was instead of on top of her head. She felt a few tears leak out from her eyes and quickly wiped them away, but not before Nina saw them.

"Auntie, why are you cryin'? Are you sad?" Andy laughed and shook her head, pulling both girls (and Brego) into another hug, patting Nina's hair down gently.

"No, baby. I'm just glad you two made some friends is all." Movement out of the corner of Andy's eye caught her attention and she glanced to her right to see Rick walking over, stuffing a pair of work gloves into his back pocket.

"Why don't you girls go play some more? I'll be over in just a minute." she said, watching as they skipped back over to their new found friends. She stayed kneeling in the grass for a few more moments, even after Rick had come to a stop several paces away from her. It took her almost another minute to pry her eyes away from Nina and Izzy before turning to Rick.

"Glad to see you up and about." he began, his hands resting on his hips. "You slept for damn near twenty hours. Took Carl and Beth almost an hour to coax those girls and the dog out of your cell to give you space to rest up." Andy looked at him, surprise written all over her face.

"Did I really sleep for that long?" Rick nodded. "Jesus Christ. If I didn't feel so stiff I'd be tempted to call you a liar."

"You must have really needed it." Rick laughed, the pair lapsing into a short silence as they watched Nina and Izzy play with the three girls Andy didn't know the names of quite yet.

"How long were you out there for?" he asked at length.

Andy shrugged.

"Since the beginning. Started out with their parents – my brother and his wife, actually – my mom, and my younger siblings. Been on the road looking for some place to be since everything happened."

"It's just you guys now?" Rick asked, a knowing, haunted look in his eyes that told Andy that he had lost much of his original group as well. Andy nodded her head, breathing deeply though her nose.

"Yep. We lost my mom about two months in saving those two from Duds in Oklahoma. My brother and sister-in-law in Mississippi. I had another brother and a sister, but we got separated in Atlanta. We had plans to meet up just south if things went bad, but they never showed. I waited almost a week for them, but I had those two and it was getting too dangerous to stay any longer, so we left."

"Sorry to hear that."

Andy shrugged again, subconsciously going to nibble on the back of piercings that weren't in her bottom lip anymore. She chose to pick at the scabbing skin at the corner of her mouth instead where she split it getting hit in the face by the handle of her knife after a run-in with a Dud several days prior.

"How long have ya'll been here? Looks like you've got a pretty good set up." she commented, changing the subject. Rick nodded and looked around, pride showing plainly on his face.

"Yeah, we do. We found it at the end of last winter, just before spring. The place was overrun, but we cleared it and got it fortified. Walkers used to find their way into the tombs every so often, but we've got everything under control now."

Rick then took the time to show Andy around, since she had immediately taken to her cell upon arrival and missed out on the tour. He introduced her to Carol who generally managed the kitchen and food prep area under the awning with a boy named Patrick, who was asking about Daryl and if Rick knew when he was going to be back from some sort of trip. She also met Glenn and Maggie (who had been the pair that tried asking her if she was alright when she practically busted out of the prison in search of her nieces,) as well as Herschel, Beth, Judith, Ricky, Karen and a dozen other people Andy couldn't remember the names of.

"We'll let you rest up a few more days, get used to the place and then you'll be assigned a job. Carol also helps with the kids, so Nina and Izzy will be well looked after when you're working."

Andy nodded her head and shook Rick's hand once more, thanking him profusely.

"Thank you, Rick. You have no idea how much it means to me that you took us in." Andy said gratefully. Rick glanced down into the field at a young boy wearing a wide brimmed hat who was currently leaning over a short wooden fence near a squat shed.

"No, I think I do know." He said, a look of pure love only a parent would have for a child shining from those intensely blue eyes of his.

 **|.|**

On Andy's fifth day, she woke up before most anyone else in the Prison and lazed about in her cell, reading for the sixteenth time since everything happened the eighth chapter of _Harry Potter,_ feeling as her nieces shifted and snuggled up on either side of their aunt as they slept. With the help of Glenn, she was able to take apart her bunk and push the two beds together to form one large one, using the two original mattress pads and several quilts made out of scraps of other blankets to make it comfortable enough for all four of them to sleep on together. Brego always slept at the foot of the bed with his head pointed toward the cell door, at the ready should anyone unwanted came barging into the room that held his master and her pups.

Andy roused Nina and Izzy when she finished the chapter, taking their bag of toiletries to the showers to get ready for the day. She made the girls brush their teeth with the tooth brushes that a woman named Sasha had provided them on their first day and braided their wild hair out of their faces as to not get it dirty while they played. Andy let the girls play outside in the courtyard and set out in search of Rick, intent on being assigned a job so she could begin earning her keep.

"I'm not really in charge of giving anyone jobs anymore – it's up to the Council – but for today I'll stick you on fence duty." He said, resting his arms on a shovel he was using to dig troughs in the garden. Probably to better irrigate the tomatoes growing there, Andy thought. "Glenn, Sasha, and Daryl are on a run right now, but should be back in a day or two and then you can meet with them, Herschel and Carol to get you something a little more permanent."

Rick pointed to the small group of people heading to the outer ring of the fence near the tower.

"Go catch up and talk with Karen. She's in charge of the fences, she'll get you set up." Andy thanked him and told her nieces to stay within the courtyard and not to go near the fences before she jogged over to the group that had fence duty, calling for Karen and seeing a woman a few years older than her lift her head.

Karen was nice, with olive skin and wild, curly hair that was just about two curls away from rivaling Andy's own. Karen showed her the ropes, telling her how important it was that the Walkers didn't stay grouped around one certain area of the fences for too long so they wouldn't pull them down and infest the courtyard. The work was more exhausting than Andy thought it would be, and the burn in her biceps, back, and abdomen told her she should start working out more.

Several people tried asking her what she had been going since 'it' happened, but Andy shied away from their questions, not really knowing how to speak to anyone over the age of ten. Many of the fence-pokers nodded in understanding, knowing that it was hard to get acclimated to 'civilized life' again after so long facing death at every waking moment, but there were a small few that grumbled about Andy being a bitch under their breath. Andy didn't pay any attention to these people, but when a tall blonde man named Lyall began loudly announcing that the newbies should show more respect toward the ones that had been there longer, Andy was about ready to snap and break his fucking neck.

Karen picked up on Andy's shift in mood quickly and showed no remorse when she snapped the back of her cane against his legs, making him stumble and let out a sting of curses.

"Shut up, Lyall. Nobody cares how short or long anyone has been here. Leave her be." She then gave him 'the look' (You know, the one your mom gives you when you're about to do something you shouldn't?) and he clenched his jaw, a vein ticking in his temple when several people chuckled at the reprimand he received. Andy rolled her eyes at him, working her jaw as she fought not to say anything so she could finish out the rest of her 'shift' without adding 'Stuck-up prick' to the list of things she'd killed.

 **|.|**

Daryl, Glenn, and Sasha returned from their run in the late evening with two new people; a teen named Neil and a man who called himself Oxy that Andy could have sworn was actually Mark Hoppus from Blink-182. Andy was sitting on a set of bleachers in the courtyard with Nina and Izzy, tossing a ball for Brego who cased after it as if he had never been played with before. When Andy saw that they had quite a bit to carry back inside, she ordered the girls to stay and play so she could go and help, sidling up a little awkwardly to Sasha, who turned with a curious look on her face.

"Uh, hey, I'm Andy. Need some help?" she offered, holding out her hands and avoiding Sasha's gaze. Sasha studied her a moment before she practically dropped a large plastic bin full of canned food in her waiting arms.

"Totes of food go in the cafeteria, Medical supplies to Herschel and ammo to the armory." was all she said, but Andy grinned all the same, finally feeling like she was contributing to the compound in some type of way. Rick spoke with the three as soon as he got wind of the fact that they were back, and Glenn came up to her with the promise that the Council would meet with her first thing in the morning to see where they would put her to work at.

She met with the Council members in the library the next morning, feeling very much like she was in a job interview. They asked her the standard questions, "What did you do before all this?" "What are you good at?" "How's your aim?" and even a few off the wall ones, such as if she could sew, or how her gardening was.

"Well, uh, I was a practicing nurse before everything happened, so I'm good at that I guess..." Andy felt her words die in her throat at their closed off expressions, not liking the fact that she couldn't tell what each of them were thinking. Andy felt wound up tighter than her bow string, and fidgeted with the rips in the holes of her knees, feeling anxiety well in her chest and lodge itself in her throat.

"I grew up on a res in Oklahoma with my dad until I was nineteen, so I know a lot about hunting and tracking." Daryl glanced at her out of the corner of his eye at this, and it seemed to peak Carol's interest as well, spurring Andy to continue. "I could tell you which plants you can eat and what ones would kill you before you even walked away from it. When I was out there, I used my nursing knowledge and the skills my dad taught me to save mine and my girls' asses more times than I can count." Andy scratched the side of her face and shifted her gaze to an odd stain on the floor.

"I really want to contribute, so I'll take whatever ya'll can give me. Fences, guard duty, farming... I'll do all of it. I owe you guys my life." Andy looked up and stared into their eyes, each one in turn. "You guys saved my entire world." She met eyes with Daryl, who seemed to know that she wasn't talking about her self at this point. Herschel smiled at her, his mouth moving under his snowy white beard.

"It'll be great to have a nurse to go with the doctor and the veterinarian." He laughed, earning a chuckle from Glenn and a roll of Sasha's eyes, although the small smile she had betrayed any semblance of the 'don't fuck with me' front she was trying to show. "We'll talk it over and get back with you before lunch." he said, prompting Andy to nod her head and stand up so fast she almost knocked her chair into the bookshelf behind her.

Andy soon found herself in the middle of the courtyard with Nina and Izzy, watching Brego sniff at the pen with the pigs while she braided flowers and clovers in her nieces hair. She was nervous of the outcome of the Council's decision, and hoped they didn't decide that she was too skiddish and unfriendly with the other residents to allow her to do much of anything around the prison.

Herschel came to her cell while Nina and Izzy were taking a nap, cuddled around their aunt as she read a book she got from the library. She would have sat bolt upright if it weren't for Nina being draped across her chest, and carefully moved the sleeping girl to speak with Herschel outside of the cell. He greeted her warmly, and he greatly reminded her of her grandfather.

"Daryl told us about your first meeting with he and Rick. Particularly the part where he didn't hear you coming until you had a bow two inches from his face." He began, hooking his fingers behind his suspenders. Andy scratched the side of her face bashfully. "Glenn wants you for runs, and I agree. It would be good to have someone with medical knowledge to go with the groups on their runs to administer first aid if it was needed." Andy felt her heart soar at this news, but also felt a tingle of apprehension. Going on runs meant she would more than likely be leaving her nieces behind for several days at a time, but squashed the feelings down to deal with later.

"For the time being, you'll be with myself and Doctor S so we can see how good a nurse you really are." Herschel winked playfully, letting her know that this was just a precaution, wanting to assess her knowledge before they actually sent her into the field with the others. Andy nodded her head, understanding completely.

"Yep, I get it." She said, not being able to hide the wide grin on her face. Herschel smiled as well, resting his hand on her shoulder. Andy was proud that the action didn't make her flinch like it usually did.

"You'll start tomorrow, bright and early. Meet me in the courtyard and we'll get through the basics." He said. Andy grinned and saluted him, watching his back as he walked away. Andy noticed that he limped on one leg, and wondered if he hurt it before or after everything happened.

She figured she could ask him about it tomorrow.


	3. (III) Herbalism and Omens

**Herbalism and Omens**

 **Woah hey, chapter three already? Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited; _Four Letter Lie_ has been up only a week and we already have almost 200 views! I hate to be _that guy_ but leave a review or PM me letting me know if you liked it, every review helps!**

 **I have a bad habit of starting something and not finishing it, but I'm very excited about _Four Letter Lie_ and I have big big plans for it, so bear with me through my writer's block moments and I promise I'll keep updating pretty regularly for ya'll!**

The prison was oddly serene in the early morning hours, with only the small sounds of sleeping people breaking the quiet. Andy awoke by the faint beeping of her watch, the face telling her it was close to 6AM, almost an hour before she had to meet with Herschel in the courtyard. She carefully lifted the covers and slid out of bed, replacing the blankets over the sleeping bodies of her nieces before sitting down on the floor to do her morning stretches, feeling her spine pop in several different places as she twisted her body this way and that to relieve the stiffness from her joints and muscles.

Andy pulled on the black jeans with the rips in the knees (the only pants she owned, to be completely honest) and a hooded vest over a plain once dark black tee shirt that had faded into a sort of dark gray over the time Andy had been wearing it. She laced up her boots and grabbed the messenger bag she used on her hunts, making sure her knives, a bottle of water and a few protein bars were tossed inside before grabbing her bow and quiver.

She made it into the courtyard with enough time to do two quick laps around the field before Herschel stepped out of the prison, his own rucksack strapped across his chest. The veterinarian greeted Andy with a friendly smile and a wave of his hand, making his way over to where the woman stood at the awning. Andy felt a tingle of excitement in her belly, as if she had eaten a hive of bees for breakfast instead of one of the protein bars from her cell.

"Mornin'." She greeted, grasping the lower limb of her bow nervously, feeling the familiar pressure of the string across her chest.

"Good morning." Herschel returned, walking passed her and down the gravel path toward the main gate. Andy was surprised at how quickly he could walk despite his limp and had to jog to catch up with him.

"I have a few things I need you to help me with." He began, greeting Maggie with a hug when the pair reached the gate. Maggie and Carol lifted the ropes to the main gate just enough for Herschel and Andy to squeeze through, Maggie's call of 'Be careful!' and her wave the last thing they saw before they disappeared into the forest surrounding the Prison.

"I've got a little boy with a stomach ache, a teenager with a fever and swelling in his leg from a cut he got trying to hop a fence and one of the newer members has ringworm. I need something for each of these patients for their ailments. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of many modern medicines at the moment, so we'll have to use your knowledge of herbs instead." Herschel said, turning to Andy with an expectant look on his face. Andy racked her brain a moment, hundreds of remedies flicking passed her eyes in an instant.

"I know for a fact that Angelica can be made into a tonic for stomach aches, and the root can be powdered to create a poultice for swelling since it has anti-bacterial properties..." Andy continued to rack her brain for more herbs, grasping a small bundle of arrows and holding her bow at the ready as she walked deeper into the woods, her mind set on finding a water source where she knew Angelica grew.

"Why Angelica?" Herschel asked, matching Andy's quick pace easily. "Why not Aletris?" Andy stopped and listened, raising her nose to sniff the air before turning to her left a bit, following a fresh fox trail down a slight incline in the forest floor.

"Aletris is mostly used for women's menstrual cramps. You shouldn't give it to children because of it's similarities to a narcotic. It also has a property similar to estrogen, so it's better for females to use instead." Herschel nodded his head, seeming to approve of her well educated answer.

"If you're going to use Angelica for the swelling and the stomach ache, what would you use for the fever?"

"Willow bark contains salicin, which is used to reduce fevers." Andy stated, stopping abruptly and looking up. "And _this_ is a black walnut tree; we can use the hulls of the walnuts to create a salve for the ringworm some of our guys have." Andy said, grinning broadly at Herschel. Andy fitted the bow over her head and across her chest, scaling the tree quickly to get to the still green walnuts near the top of the tree.

After filling her satchel with more than enough walnuts, Andy and Herschel kept down the path in search of Angelica and willow bark. Andy felt a prickling at the back of her neck and stopped Herschel, her ears straining to hear passed the bird song and wind rustling through the trees. She could smell the Dud before it came into view, its putrid, rotting stink permeating the air. An arrow lodged itself in its cranium before it even noticed the two, Andy already walking over to retrieve the arrow. Herschel commented on her aim, looking pleasantly surprised she had seen and shot it from where it was behind the tree as soon as it stepped into view.

They found a willow tree at the edge of a shallow irrigation ditch with the Angelica they were also looking for growing in abundance at the base. Andy carefully used her knife to pull up squares of bark while Herschel dug up the Angelica, harvesting its leaves and roots and wrapping the willow bark around the small bundles to keep them from getting crushed or lost.

It was nearing ten o'clock when they came back to the Prison and it was already alive with people walking back and forth either changing shifts or doing their assigned chores. The children were back in the courtyard, three of the girls standing at the fence line and waving to several of the Duds near there. Andy was glad to see Nina and Izzy playing with Brego in the center of the courtyard, waving around their little dolls and playing some sort of game to keep themselves occupied.

Andy followed Herschel to his office, where they laid the roots on the window sill between rags to dry and crushed the hulls of the walnuts and created a fair amount of a salve to coat the ringworm one of the other newbies had. Herschel watched as Andy brewed a tonic out of the Angelica leaves and administered it to the little boy complaining of the stomach ache, Andy brushing his hair out of his eyes with her fingers and telling him a story of how the Milky Way was created. By the end of the day, Andy felt very accomplished, having gotten rid of a sore belly and cleaned up a cut that was very quickly turning infected.

She ended the day with Nina and Izzy climbing all over the bed, excitedly telling their aunt of all the shenanigans they had gotten into while Andy was working. Andy drifted off to sleep listening to Brego huffing at the end of the bed and feeling the heart beats of her nieces, feeling very content and safe for the first time in a very _long_ time.

 **|.|**

It took several weeks, but Andy soon found herself getting used to the fact that it was _quiet_ inside of her new home at night. Of course, there was often the low murmuring of the people living in the cells around hers, and the general shuffle and rustle of people moving around and getting comfortable at night, but for the first time in a very long time, Andy wasn't hearing cicadas buzz or the ever hungry snarl of Duds as they passed by their camp at night. Andy still slept with her gun and knife under her pillow and often shut her cell door at night as a precaution, but she didn't have to worry about falling out of a tree only to be eaten by the undead in the middle of the night.

The best thing about the Prison was the fact that Nina and Izzy were around other kids and could play outside without having to worry about getting lost or mauled.

Carol had approached Andy on her second week as the woman was sitting with her nieces eating breakfast, watching as they carefully copied their letters into a notebook she had Sasha and her group bring back on one of their most recent supply runs, as Andy wasn't quite ready to go on them yet. Andy looked up at the woman, taking in her short salt-and-pepper hair and kind smile. She shifted in her seat a bit and resisted the urge to get up and walk away.

"Mornin'." Andy greeted, lifting her hand to shield the bright morning light from her eyes.

"Good morning." Carol returned. "Do you mind if I sit?"

Andy shook her head and waved her arm invitingly.

"Not at all, go ahead." Carol, still smiling, dipped her head and sat down across from Andy at the very edge of the bench.

"I was just wondering if it would be alright with you if Nina and Izzy joined Story Time later today?" she asked. Andy blinked a few times.

"What's that?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you knew about it. Story Time is from twelve to three every day in the library. We read a few chapters from a book that the children picked out, and we teach them survival skills as well as reading, writing and math. It's like school, but we find that calling it Story Time gets the kids more involved."

Andy considered the offer a moment. It would be nice if they could get more involved, and hanging out with the other kids at the Prison would be beneficial to their growth and development.

"What kind of survival skills?" Andy asked carefully, giving Carol a look that plainly stated that she didn't want to be told a lie or a partial truth.

"Well," She began, rubbing her hands together. "I teach them how to hold knives, about gun safety. How important it is to be on guard at all times, even within the walls."

Andy nodded her head, mulling over the idea inside of her mind and debating all of the pros and cons of the situation. The con would be the fact that Nina and Izzy would he handling weapons at their extremely young age, but the _pro_ would be that they would be able to handle themselves at an even earlier age should the need ever come. Andy herself had learned to hunt and use a bow at a very early age as well, knowing how to take town and properly gut deer and elk by the time she was ten.

"Well, it would be great if they could learn how to handle themselves in a controlled environment..." she said, thinking out loud. "Yeah, I think we can do that."

Carol smiled excitedly, as if she were expecting Andy to immediately refuse.

"Excellent! Do you want to sit in with us today?" She suggested. Andy looked to her nieces, who were now doodling in the margins of their notebooks instead of writing their letters.

"No, I trust you."

Those words alone meant more to Andy than Carol would ever know, so Andy soon found herself with an afternoon to her own devices.

After Andy's first week, Rick had initially put her on gate duty (when she wasn't helping out Herschel or Doctor S) where she and several other survivors used long canes and crowbars that had been sharpened at one end to help manage all of the Duds (Walkers, the people here called them.) that always managed to swarm at the fences.

Today, however, Andy helped in another way.

She heard the roar of Daryl's motorcycle and a rumble of car engines before she saw then rush up to the gates. Even from a courtyard away Andy could see the stricken look on Daryl's face as he yelled at Maggie and Glenn to open the gates.

"Get Herschel!" he shouted, parking his bike at the second gate leading into the courtyard and ripping it open. A green Hyundai pulled up behind him so quickly it skidded over the gravel driveway and almost slammed into the back of Daryl's bike. A short moment later, the driver got out and tossed open the back door and with the help of Daryl, pulled out a young man from the back seat. He was screaming in agony as the pair helped him inside of the fence, someone rushing inside of the Prison to get Herschel but Andy was already halfway there, streaking across the field in a long legged stride.

She dropped to her knees next to the boy, seeing a long arrow protruding from his shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked, tugging off the boy's jacket and pulling her knife from its sheathe, beginning to cut off his shirt to better see the wound.

"Got attacked by another group of survivors out there. They shot at us and one of them stabbed him with their arrow on our way out." Sasha explained quickly. Andy hushed the boy (Whom she remembered being called Nathan,) and looked at the arrow, seeing that it was embedded where his shoulder met his collar bone, but hadn't gone all the way through to the other side yet.

"It hasn't come out the other side yet, and I don't know what kind of tip it has. We have to push it through first so I can get it out." Nathan's eyes snapped to Andy, his face going even paler than it already was.

"Are you crazy? Just take it out!" he shrilled.

"If the arrow has a serrated tip, or if it's a broadhead, it's going to seriously fuck up your arm." she stated, grabbing a bundle of clean rags from someone that thrust them at her.

"What do you mean?" Nathan's voice was weak and shaky, scared more than anything by what Andy was implying.

"If I just rip it out, it'll rip out your muscle and tendons too. If that happens, you'll either lose the use of your arm or you'll start bleeding and I won't be able to stop it. We _have_ to push it through." Andy turned to the person standing nearest to her.

"Help me get him to the tables. I need more towels, a lighter, bolt or wire cutters, water, salt, and something to use to stitch his wounds closed when we get this thing out of him."

With the help of Daryl, Andy was able to lift Nathan from the ground and get him seated on the table, sitting him up straight and shoving a folded piece of rang in his mouth, directing him to bite down on it.

"Nathan, I need you to listen to me." Andy said calmly. "I'm going to push the arrow through your shoulder on the count of three. On 'one' you're going to breathe in, and on 'three' you're going to breathe out as hard and as fast as you can, okay? Can you do that for me?" Nathan nodded his head weakly, sweat already beading across his face and upper lip, making his hair stick to his forehead.

"Okay, Nathan, you ready?" Nathan nodded his head, shallowly breathing in and out.

"One,"

Nathan sucked in a large lungful of air and held it.

"Two," Nathan exhaled a bit but remained somewhat calm, his head facing away from Andy's intense gaze.

"Three!"

Just as Andy instructed, Nathan let out his breath of hair quickly, expelling it in a violent _woosh_ as Andy threw her entire upper body against the arrow, feeling it push further through his shoulder and exit the other side with a sickening pop. While Nathan did his best not to scream, it didn't stop his body from falling forward and his head to loll as he almost passed out from pain.

"You're doing great, Nathan, you're being so good." Andy cooed, brushing Nathan's hair from his eyes. She then took a pair of bolt cutters from Maggie's hands and clipped the end of the arrow off just below the fletching, grunting in annoyance when the fiberglass shaft splintered at that end. She used the lighter to melt the end back together, pinching it so that the edge wouldn't splinter and break of in Nathan's shoulder when she pulled it the rest of the way through.

When the arrow was removed from Nathan's shoulder, she made a saline solution and gently poured it over the wound to clean it before she began stitching it back up, applying a salve she made out of the Angelica root to keep away infection, bandaging it up and allowing Daryl and Tyreese to take him back to his cell to rest.

Andy sat down heavily on the bench, feeling her arms shake with the adrenaline rush. Her hands were coated in Nathan's blood, and she could already feel it begin to pull and stick from where it was beginning to dry on her skin. If she didn't wash it off soon, her hands would no doubt be stained a pinkish-red for the rest of the week. Andy hated to admit it, but if felt _good_ to help someone with a large wound like that again. Even in the midst of an apocalypse, she didn't actually get to use her medical knowledge very often, especially since she had been mostly alone for a large part of it.

As she watched the blood dry on her hands, she couldn't help but to think that Nathan was just an omen of things to come.


End file.
